Have You Seen Acadia’s Ghost Cat?

Be careful what stray cats you pet when you visit Acadia this summer. It t might be the red-eyed spirit cat named Seawater!

According to local legend, a raggedy cat roams the island looking for her master who perished in a fire many years ago. In 1947 a great fire broke out in the town of Bar Harbor and over took parts of Acadia National Park. Overall, six deaths were reported including one man who almost made it out alive.

Willie Cunningham lived on Forest St. with his cat named Seawater in a home that was directly in the path of the raging fires. As the fire neared his home, Willie grabbed his cat and ran to a passing rescue vehicle. As the truck began to drive away Willie's house burst into flames, spooking the cat who then ran back inside the burning home.

The elderly man was last seen chasing his cat back into the smoke and rescuers were forced to leave the man behind. A week later while neighbors tried to put their lives back together, Willie's bones were found by a nearby stream. The story that's told is as the neighbor lifted the lifeless skull he noticed the eye sockets seemed to be looking at something behind him. When he turned around he was shocked to find a black cat staring at him, a cat that looked like Willie's but had a scraggly appearance and eyes that seemed to glow red. He chased the cat off and after watching it run a short distance away, he saw it vanish before his eyes!

There have been numerous reports of Seawater since the fire with some interesting new developments.It seems the size of the cat has changed over time. The original Seawater was an average sized house cat, it seems the spirit of Seawater has become more panther sized! According to this report, in 2005 a woman hiking in Acadia came across 4 black cats (did Seawater have kittens?) Three of the cats were house cat sized and their leader was more the size of a panther! She also mentioned the leading cat seemed to have eyes that could change to red! Could it be Seawater?!